Weird Studies
Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."
SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring the anomalous, the luminous, and the numinous. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions.
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Episode 54: Lobsters, Pianos, and Hidden Gods
JF and Phil discuss Errol Morris's fascinating essay, "The Pianist and the Lobster."
77 min
177
Episode 53: Astral Jet Lag: On William Gibson's...
Phil and JF discuss Gibson's masterwork of speculative naturalism.
62 min
178
Episode 52: On Beauty
JF and Phil discuss the nature and power of beauty.
75 min
179
Episode 51: Blind Seers: On Flannery O'Connor's...
Phil and JF discuss Flannery O'Connor first novel, interpreting it as an investigation into the implications of the modern.
95 min
180
Episode 50: Demogorgon: On 'Stranger Things'
JF and Phil discuss the eldritch metaphysics of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things.'
96 min
181
Episode 49: Out of Time: Nietzsche on History
Phil and JF discuss Nietzsche's seminal essay, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," from Untimely Meditations.
82 min
182
Episode 48: Walking the Tightrope with Erik Davis
JF and Phil sit down with Erik Davis to discuss his new book, "High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies."
84 min
183
Episode 47: Machines of Loving Grace: Technolog...
A wide-ranging conversation on technology, utopia, and the ethics of cybernetics.
67 min
184
Episode 46: Thomas Ligotti's Angel
An in-depth discussion of horror writer Thomas Ligotti's short story, "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel."
89 min
185
Episode 45: Jeffrey J. Kripal on 'Flipping' Out...
JF and Phil talk to Jeffrey Kripal about his new book, "The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge"
69 min
186
Episode 44: Doomed to Enchantment: The Psychica...
Phil and JF discuss two articles by William James on the early years of psychical research in Britain and the US.
93 min
187
Episode 43: On Shirley Jackson
JF and Phil discuss two weird masterworks, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People" by the American horror luminary, Shirley Jackson.
76 min
188
Episode 42: On Pauline Oliveros, with Kerry O'B...
Music scholar Kerry O'Brien join Phil and JF for a conversation on the work of American composer Pauline Oliveros.
63 min
189
Episode 41: On Speculative Fiction, with Matt C...
JF and Phil talk fantasy and horror with writer and editor Matt Cardin.
59 min
190
Episode 40: On Jonathan Glazer's 'Under the Skin'
Phil and JF discuss the recent masterwork of weird cinema starring Scarlett Johansson.
77 min
191
Episode 39: The Challenge of the Paranormal, wi...
JF and Phil discuss the paranormal with the esteemed professor and philosophy and religious thought, Jeffrey J. Kripal.
62 min
192
Episode 38: Style as Analysis
Phil and JF discuss a recently published article of Phil's authorship on how to write about music.
70 min
193
Episode 37: Entities, with Stuart Davis
JF and Phil discuss nonhuman beings in an aesthetic universe with filmmaker, musician and mystic Stuart Evan Davis.
74 min
194
Christmas Bonus: Hyperstition Addendum
The final segment of our conversation on hyperstition, i.e., fiction that turns real.
24 min
195
Episode 36: On Hyperstition
JF and Phil talk hyperstitions, entities born in the realm of fantasy that slowly become denizens of the real.
73 min
196
Episode 35: Whirl Without End: On M.C. Richards...
Phil and JF discuss the first chapter of "Centering," M.C. Richard's penetrating essay on the artistic process.
61 min
197
Episode 34: The Weird Realism of Robert Aickman
JF and Phil discuss Robert Aickman's masterwork of weird fiction, "The Hospice," from his 1975 collection "Cold Hand in Mine."
55 min
198
Episode 33: The Fine Art of Changing the Subjec...
JF and Phil discuss the profound effects of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (the urinal) on the development of the arts since 1917.
59 min
199
Episode 32: Orbis Tertius: Borges on Magic, Con...
Phil and JF discuss the classic tale, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
70 min
200
Episode 31: Scarcely Human at All: On Glenn Gou...
JF and Phil discuss the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's prophetic essay, "The Prospects of Recording."
76 min